Flexible coupling.



,880. PATENTED JAN.9, 1906.

T. A. WOOLLDRIDGE & E. A. WARD.

V FLEXIBLE GOUPLIN G.

APPLIUATION FILED .APR.24, 1905.

m m *\\\\\u WITNESSES UNITED ETATES PATENT oEEioE.

TOM ALFRED VVO OLLDRIDGE AND ERNEST ALFRED WARD, OF BIRMING- HAM, ENGLAND.

FLEXEBLE COUPLlNG-.

. Application filed To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, ToM ALFRED W OOLL' DRIDGE and ERNEST ALFRED WARD, subjects of the Kingiof Great Britain, trading as the 5' Spring Bending Company, of 101 Alfred road, Handsworth, Birmingham, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flexible Couplings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to couplings principally for connecting'together articles or lengths of spirally-coiled wire, suchas for attaching flexible or open-coiled Wire fore ends or nose-pieces to the closely-coiled body 5 parts of instruments for cleaning or removing obstructions from chimneys, flues, and t er passages; also for flexibly connecting together the canes of chimney and .flue sweeping brushes and for connecting brushes, :0 cutters, boiler-tube scrapers, or other tools to flexible carriers or handles formed from coiled wire or from canes or the like; also for coupling together lengths of flexible shafting formed from coiled wire, and generally for 2 5 uniting various coiled-wire lengths or articles or, articles which are provided with coils for the urpose of effecting their connection to fiexi le or spirally-coiled carriers.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents the application of our invention to the connection 0 a flexible'fore end or pilot nose-piece a to the body I) of a drain-cleaning instrument in which the said pilot end is formed from an open coil of wire, while the body is made from closely-wrapped or closelycoiled wire. Fig.2 is a sectional view, and Fig. 3 shows the pilot-nose and body part segarated or detached from one another. n this particular arrangement the body 40 part b is formed with a closely-coiledshank extension or stem 0 of an outside diameter equal to the inside diameter of the bod and this stem, which may either 'be slightiy conoidal a portion of its length or-cylindrical in contour, constitutes, as it were, a sprigot and is forced or interscrewed or twisted into the socket-like o en end (1 of the pilotiece, Whose coils are t ereby slightly expan ed or opened out, so that b their contractile reaction upon'the coils of the said stem the two Specification of Letters Patent.

24,1905; Serial No. 25'i,269.

Patented Jan. 9, 1906.

parts or lengths are held together in such a manner that while they cannot be withdrawn or separated longitudinally or by torsionally-applied force or twisting strains the connection is a perfectly flexible one and will not interfere with the bending of either coil in any direction. The same connection may be employed. for uniting or coupling two lengths of coiled wireby formin at one end of one length a close-coiled shan or sprigotlike part of a diameter which will admit of the same being interscrewed into the open end of the other part and interlocked by the contractile action of the coils. In the case of connections for securing sweeping, scraping, or cutting toolsto' holders or carriers formed from coiled wire the toolis formed with or attached to a close-coiled shank for interscrewing into the coiled end of the holder, while when applied as a union or connection for securing together the flexible canes of chimney sweeping brushes, drain-cleaners, and the like one end of each cane or length is fitted with the coiled-wire socket member of the joint, while the other end is arranged. to carry the close-coiled sprigot or peg member. The application of this part of the invention to varlous other purposes differs in no essential respect from its application to the particular appliances above described.

4 Having fully described our invention, what we desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is ,A flexible coupling comprising two closelycoiled members, one of said members terminating in a closely-coiled expansible shank havin a portion of its length substantially conoi al in contour and the remaining portion cylindrical, said cylindrical portion of said shank adapted to extend in the other of said members so as to interlock therewith, thereby connecting the members together.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

TOM ALFRED WOOLLDRIDGE. ERNEST ALFRED WARD. Witnesses:

HENRY SKERRETT, HENRY NORTON SKERRETT 

